Sephardi Jews - Divisions

Divisions

Historically, Sephardim are those Jews associated with the Iberian Peninsula.

• The most prominent sub-group consists of the descendants of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, who settled in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, in particular Salonica and Istanbul, and whose traditional language is Judaeo-Spanish, sometimes known as Judezmo or Ladino. Some went further east to the Arabic-speaking territories of the Ottoman Empire, settling among the long-established Arabic-speaking Jewish communities in Baghdad, Damascus and Alexandria. A few followed the spice trade routes as far as the Malabar coast of southern India, where they settled among the established Cochin Jewish community.
• Another branch settled in Morocco and Algeria and spoke a variant of Judaeo-Spanish known as Haketia and Judeo-Arabic. Several of the Moroccan Jews emigrated back to the Iberian Peninsula to form the core of the Gibraltar community (see History of the Jews in Gibraltar). In the 19th century, modern Spanish and French gradually replaced Haketia and Judeo-Arabic as mother tongue among most Moroccan Sephardim and other North African Sephardim.
• A third sub-group, known as Spanish and Portuguese Jews, consists of Jews whose families remained in Spain and Portugal as ostensible Christians, and later reverted to Judaism in Italy, the Netherlands, Northern Germany, England or the New World.
• A fourth sub-group, known as Crypto-Jews, are those who choose to remain hidden since the Spanish and Mexican Inquisitions, but practice secret Jewish rites in privacy. (Library of Congress, Microfiche 7906177). Sefarditas are found particularly in the northern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, the American Southwest i.e., New Mexico, Arizona, and South Texas (formerly part of Nuevo Santander, Spain/Mexico), the Caribbean, and South America and this also includes Crypto-Jews that were brought into exile during the 15th century inquisition that took refuge from Southeast Asia e.g., in Northern Samar, the Philippines, as well as, Crypto-Jews found in Belmonte, Portugal and in the former Portuguese colony of Goa, India, where they were subjected to the Goa Inquisition.

From the perspective of the present day, the first three sub-groups look in retrospect like separate branches, each with its own traditions, though some degree of merger is taking place as Spanish and Portuguese congregations increasingly include Jews of other backgrounds. In earlier centuries, and as late as the editing of the Jewish Encyclopedia at the beginning of the twentieth century, they were usually regarded as together forming a continuum, with the Jewish community of Livorno acting as the clearing-house of personnel and traditions between the three sub-groups as well as the main publishing centre.